


The Race

by Qurinas



Category: GI Joe - Fandom
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2003-11-07
Updated: 2003-11-07
Packaged: 2017-10-18 11:19:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,959
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/188378
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Qurinas/pseuds/Qurinas
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Discoveries made and a bet won and lost.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Race

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Contrelamontre "Deadline" challenge on LJ.

How could this be happening? They were going to lose, and lose badly at that. Was that really a bad thing? Scarlett looked over to see Lady Jaye typing madly at the terminal in front on her. In a quick moment, Scarlett noticed her make a mistake. A very foolish mistake adding to the amount of time it would take to solve their problem.

The redhead’s heart pounded in her chest as she looked at her fellow Joe. Was she blowing this on purpose? Was the thought of what might happen as intriguing to Lady Jaye as it was to Scarlett? Was there the possibility that her long time comrade had entertained the same thoughts she had?

Scarlett buried her face in her hands and groaned as she realized they were about to lose and thought back on how on God’s Green Earth she had gotten herself into this mess.

 

* * * *

 

“Now my momma didn’t raise no fool,” Roadblock began in his typical sing-songy tone. “But sure to see, you’ll prove me right, for you ain’t got the tools.” The large man gave a boisterous laugh from deep within his barrel chest. He ran a hand over his shaved head as he looked over at his partner in crime, Quick Kick.

“I have to agree with, Roadblock here,” the young Samurai began as he looked to Scarlett. “There is just no way you, and whoever you pick to be your partner, will be able to beat our time. In anything!”

Leaning closer to Quick Kick, Scarlett flipped her thick ponytail and said, “Oh yeah, well just name it and you have a bet.”

They both gave her big toothy grins before turning to whisper back and forth to each other. Trying to remain aloof and confident, Scarlett made no attempt to hear, even when their voices were occasionally raised.

Finally, they turned to her to face her again. “It’s only fair that you pick your partner before the tasks are laid out,” Quick Kick explained. “After all, we didn’t know it was going to be me and Roadblock when this whole thing started.”

“That’s the fact, Jack,” Roadblock chimed in.

Glancing around, Scarlett quickly saw the perfect person. We’ll show them, Scarlett thought as she waved her hand high in the air. “Lady Jaye!” she called. Turning to see who called, the brunette quickly brushed her short hair out of her eyes and trotted over.

She greeted them each with a nod. “What’s goin’ on, Joes?”

“I need your help,” Scarlett answered with a superior smile directed towards the two men. “It looks like Roadblock and Quick Kick here think that I can’t do things half as well as they can. So, we've agreed to a little competition. The one snag is, I need a partner. You game?”

Grinning widely, Lady Jaye extended her hand to Scarlett. After a brief shake, she added, “I’m in.”

“Great,” Quick Kick said. “Here’s how it'll go. We’ll each take turns naming a task. The pair that either completes it the quickest or scores the best wins. At the end of the four events, if we are tied, there will be a single tiebreaker. A race.”

“And what do we get if we win?” Lady Jaye asked. Scarlett smiled; she hadn’t even thought to ask what was at stake.

Quick Kick seemed to ponder this for a moment. “The losers have to do whatever the winners say, but just one thing.”

“One thing?” the ladies asked together.

“Yup, nothing too dangerous or mean. But good for a laugh or whatever. Deal?” he asked looking to the three soldiers gathered around him.

The Joes nodded in unison and headed off towards the firing range. “First contest, small arms. Sixty second time limit, firing two full magazines and whichever team has the highest combined score wins,” Quick Kick said, picking his challenge.

Each taking turns they fired the M-16s they had picked up at the weapons shack downrange. After tallying up their scores, Quick Kick and Roadblock beat Lady Jaye and Scarlett by forty points.

They gave each other a high five and grinned at the ladies. “You gots’ta know, this is gonna be a two man show!” Roadblock shouted.

The two ladies furrowed their brows as they smirked at each other. I’m not going to bother touching that one, Scarlett thought seeing that any guy on guy joke would just be too easy.

Next, Lady Jaye led them a little further down the line to a set of dummies. Seeing that throwing spears were her preferred weapon, she outlined a complex test featuring thrown weapons of all types.

Twenty minutes later, it was all over and Scarlett and Lady Jaye were the ones congratulating each other this time. The Samurai made a great showing for himself, as he preferred to throw shurikens, but still lost by a narrow margin to Lady Jaye while Scarlett embarrassed Roadblock.

Next, it was onto the Danger Course for Roadblock's challenge. The Danger Course was basically a normal military-style obstacle course, with a few explosions and other goodies thrown in for fun. The race was a near thing as each ran the course individually and added their times together. But, when it was over, Scarlett took eight seconds too long and her team had lost.

Needing to win the last challenge to force the tiebreaker, Scarlett tried to think of something she and Lady Jaye would excel at. It took only a moment to come up with the answer. Silently, she led them to the helipad and soon they had requisitioned a Longbow attack helicopter.

Detailing the series of flight maneuvers, she asked Ace to come over and judge them. The hotshot fighter pilot was only too happy to do anything Scarlett asked of him and instantly agreed.

Each participant emerged from the Longbow breathing heavy and covered in sweat. To no one’s surprise, the ladies emerged easily victorious. Despite the fact that all Joes were schooled in how to operate every vehicle in their arsenal, Scarlett had known helicopter operation was hardly the expertise of either the heavy weapons expert or the young martial artist.

“On to the race, I guess,” Scarlett said with a smug grin as she started to walk back toward the Danger Course. She knew she would make up those seconds this time. She might not be as fast out of the gate, but her stamina was nothing to scoff at. She likely even had an advantage now that the others were tired.

“Where ya goin’, Red?” Quick Kick called after her as the others were headed off in another direction. “I get to pick the race, it is after all, my turn.” He chuckled loudly. “And, when we win, Roadblock and I know just exactly what you guys are gonna have to do. It will be a kiss that shakes the entire HQ…”

 

* * * *

 

Now Scarlett and Lady Jaye were sitting in the communications room, furiously “racing” against Quick Kick and Roadblock. The race, if one could call it that, was to see who could break Cobra’s latest encoded transmission the fastest. Just as Scarlett had manipulated the circumstances with the last challenge, by picking first, Quick Kick had managed to out maneuver her.

“Time’s up!” Roadblock shouted, laughing loudly as Scarlett continued to have her face buried in her hands. “We won and man, oh man, it is fun!”

Raising her head and turning to face Lady Jaye, Scarlett gave her a weak smile. She was more than a little afraid of what her long time friend would think of having to now kiss her. With a casual shrug meant more for the guys than for Scarlett, Lady Jaye's mouth turned up in a grin.

Scarlett desperately wanted to lean closer to her friend and ask what she thought about all this. However, Roadblock cut her off. "Don't worry ladies," he began. "You ain't got to fear no gigantic show, it's only for these two Joes." He emphasized his point by gesturing with each of his thumbs to himself and Quick Kick.

"That's right, just because it'll shake the joint," Quick Kick added. "Doesn't mean that everyone needs to see what's shakin'."

Nervously, Scarlett licked her lips as she looked to Lady Jaye. The redhead couldn't hide her trepidation and was embarrassed as her cheeks blushed. Lady Jaye shrugged at the two men trying to play it off that she was nonplussed by the whole affair.

"I'm ready if you are," Lady Jaye said with a warm smile that melted Scarlett's heart and caused her stomach to flutter. Not trusting herself to speak, Scarlett only nodded. The brunette's eyes half closed as she leaned and stopped with her lips mere inches from Scarlett's.

Closing the rest of the distance, Scarlett brought her lips to Lady Jaye's. The soft touch and warmth drew her in and a moment later their lips parted and their kiss deepened. The stupidly grinning guys to their right faded away in the sensation of soft, warm lips. Scarlett felt Lady Jaye's tongue slide past her lips to gently run along the tip of hers.

Feeling the heat building in her, Scarlett pressed their lips even more tightly together. Her inhibitions quickly boiled away in the passion she felt rising from within her. Her own tongue moved forward to meet her friend's in a series of frantic and yearning thrusts and licks. The scent that rose from the Lady Jaye's and hair filled Scarlett's senses.

The softness of her lips, the taste of her mouth, the breathy huffs that came from her threatened to overwhelm Scarlett. Suddenly, the kiss was broken leaving them both breathing heavy and Scarlett feeling as if her heart was about to rend.

Sitting in stunned silence, she barely heard Lady Jaye as she made a comment or two and bade them all farewell. Risking a glance over at Quick Kick and Roadblock, she saw their expression was of complete disbelief and shock. A moment later, they each gave a heavy sigh and smiled at her before they wordlessly departed.

Slowly standing, Scarlett felt a little unsure on her feet so she stood and waited a few minutes trying to gather her wits. Letting her feet guide her, Scarlett began to walk around the compound not paying any heed to where she was going, as her mind was busy elsewhere.

Questions that made her uncomfortable kept flooding into her mind about the kiss and her feelings. It was a little unnerving to her how much she enjoyed the kiss and what it had done to her. Would she ever explore these feelings? Did the kiss have the same impact on Lady Jaye?

After a couple hours she finally made her way to her quarters. She entered the single room that was afforded her as a senior team member and quickly noticed something was out of place. On her pillow sat a beautiful red rose with a single piece of paper folded beneath it.

Carefully, she took the rose and breathed in its aroma as she used her other hand to unfold the note. What we shared has been a long time coming, I'm only disappointed it took a silly bet for us to realize it, the note began. I hope with all my heart you feel the same. If so, meet me at 2200 hours at the club off base.

A wide smile crept to her lips and her heart seemed to swell with delight and nervous anticipation as Scarlett turned and hid the rose before tearing up the note. Glancing at her watch, she would need to move quickly if she wanted to change and freshen up and still make it to her rendezvous on time.


End file.
